Appreciation post: I finally weighed my gear after 12 trips and the base weight number shocked me
I got a cheap kitchen scale from a garage sale in Boise and started weighing everything in my pack out of boredom. My base weight came out to 24 pounds, which I thought was fine until I read that most people aim for under 15. The big surprise was my cook kit at 3.2 pounds, mostly from a stainless steel pot I bought at a thrift store. I always figured the tent was the heavy part but it only came in at 5 pounds. So now I am looking at swapping the pot for something lighter and maybe ditching the extra fuel canister I never use. Has anyone else actually weighed their kit and found one random item that was way heavier than expected?
Man, that stainless pot thing hits home. I did the same garage sale scale thing last spring and my cook kit was almost 3 pounds because of some ancient aluminum pot I'd been hauling around since college. What got me was my "lightweight" sleeping pad, turned out to be over 2 pounds with the stuff sack. Weighing your gear is humbling for sure, but at least now you know where the fat is.